Forum Discussion

Emma17's avatar
Emma17
Member
5 years ago

Where are BCNA's Financial/Annual Reports?

I an a competent investor and supporter of various charitable causes, e.g. Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is just one example.

With all due respect, BCNA launched an energetic end-of-financial year 2019/20 tax appeal on its website in May/June 2020.  This included two corporate supporters that pledged to match donations within a specified time period.  BCNA regularly promotes many fundraising activities, such as the Pink Bun campaign tie-in w/Bakers' Delight (delayed this year due to COVID-19) and others at the national and local levels.

As a charity, BCNA relies on public donations, corporate support, and government support (e.g. Cancer Australia).  BCNA does not make many of its resources available to the public as do, for example, Cancer Council, Diabetes Australia, Heart Foundation Australia, Parkinson's Australia, etc.  Registration is often required by BCNA, even to view webinars financed by Cancer Australia (i.e. the taxpayer).

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year I considered making a donation to BCNA.  However, I could not find any financial or annual reports on your website.  By contrast, Breast Cancer Trials (breastcancertrials.org.au) and the National Breast Cancer Foundation (nbcf.org.au) post their Annual and/or Financial Reports on their websites.

BCNA is obliged to lodge reports with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (www.acnc.gov.au) at a minimum?  I am interested specifically in the split between revenue, resources/expenses, and salaries. Why aren't BCNA financial/annual reports available on your website?  
  • Kirsten_BCNA's avatar
    Kirsten_BCNA
    Member
    5 years ago
    Dear @Emma17 - I absolutely agree with you that it is essential that we provide Annual Reports to our network and we are behind on these being public.  The team have been working on these and I hope we will have them published in the very near future.  

    BCNA does have a really good story to tell from a financial situation. Our internal administration costs run at less than 10% of our total income. This is an area we have focused on over the past few years and we continue to ensure we deliver our purpose with the very best and most efficient use of our supporters generosity.

    Thank you @iserbrown for the direction to the ACNC, where we provide our full audited reports.

    I agree Emma, that these audited statements do not provide the much more important information on what is the impact of the community support.  Our Annual Reports will provide this including more tailored information on where the income is spent on administration versus programs and services.

    Transparency and impact is key to our success, so I really appreciate you reaching out to us and of course at any time any one of our network is able to meet with me to discuss our financials - so please let me know if you would like this opportunity.
  • Emma17's avatar
    Emma17
    Member
    5 years ago
    Thanks for your interest @iserbrown.  I found a simplistic pie-graph data on the acnc.gov.au website before writing my initial post.  My issue is about financial transparency.  A regular refrain from BCNA is to support this that or another, or contribute to our tax appeal, etc. The opacity of its financials gives me pause.  BCNA does not upload financial reports to its website, not even a report w/financial data of its heavily-marketed fundraising activities.  Many other charities and non-profits upload annual or financial reports to their websites as a matter of course.